Whiting Launches Lit Mag Prizes, Kirkus Prize Finalists, and More
Advice for those who fear ageism in the literary world; a history of poetry’s financial dependence on academia; winners of Honey & Wax’s book-collecting prizes; and other news.
Genre: Poetry
Deadline Approaches for Frontier Poetry Award
Submissions are currently open for the 2017 Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets. A prize of $2,000 and publication in Frontier Poetry is given annually for a poem by an emerging poet. Tyehimba Jess, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, will judge.
Poets with no more than two full-length published collections are eligible. There is no style or topic restriction, but the editors want “work that is blister, that is color, that strikes hot the urge to live and be.” Using the online submission system, submit up to three poems totaling no more than five pages with a $20 entry fee by September 30. Multiple submissions are allowed. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Check out our Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more upcoming contests in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
Watch Tyehimba Jess read from his Pulitzer Prize–winning collection Olio:
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Literary Writers Conference
The 2020 Literary Writers Conference was held online from December 2 to December 4. The conference, which was hosted by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, featured agent pitch sessions, pitch clinics, a query letter clinic, and panel discussions. The faculty included fiction writer Emily Temple, agents Claudia Ballard (William Morris Endeavor) and Regina Brooks (Serendipity Literary Agency), and editors Danielle A. Jackson (Oxford American), Jonathan Lee (Catapult), and Jyothi Natarajan (Margins).
Type:
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
December 19, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
December 19, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
December 19, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Literary Writers Conference, Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, 154 Christopher Street, Suite 3C, New York, NY 10004. David Gibbs, Contact.
David Gibbs
Contact
Contact City:
Online
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
10004
Make a Return
“Well, I only write about cute boys and snowy streets, so my poems are always in tune with each other. Seriously, though, I find myself returning to the same subjects. I try to vary my approach to these subjects,” poet Chen Chen says in an interview in the Adroit Journal. Select a poem you’ve written in the past and write a new poem that returns to the same subject from a different angle. Has your perspective become more nuanced over time? How does altering your point of view, verse form, or language provide your topic with a refreshed perspective?
Javier Zamora
Caption:
In this video, Javier Zamora reads his poem “Saguaros” from his debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied (Copper Canyon Press, 2017). Zamora speaks about his collection in “First” by Rigoberto González in the September/October 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Genre:
National Poetry Series Winners, Essays on Bodegas, and More
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The longlist for the 2017 National Book Award in nonfiction; Eileen Myles on poetry, capitalism, and Trump; Ron Charles argues that the Booker Prize has become too American; and other news.
Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
Caption:
Poet and essayist Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib reads his poem “When I Say That Loving Me Is Kind of Like Being a Chicago Bulls Fan” from his debut poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (Button Poetry/Exploding Pinecone Press, 2016), at the Sheen Center in New York. His debut essay collection, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Two Dollar Radio, 2017), uses music and culture as a lens to view the world.
Genre:
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